Rail-joint.



B. R. SWORDS.

HAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1916.

1 7,093. Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

Witnesses BYRON R. SWORDS, OF LA JUNTA, COLORADO.

RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

Application filed July 10, 1916. Serial No. 108,426.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BYRON R. Swonns, a citizen of the United States, residing at La Junta, in the county of Otero and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Rail-Joint, of which the following is a specification.

The device forming the subject matter of this application is a rail joint, and the invention aims to provide a joint which, coacting with the meeting ends of a pair of rails, will hold the said ends of the rails securely in place on a joint tie.

The invention aims, specifically, to improve the chair, and to improve the construction of the splice bars which cooperate with the chair.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a transverse section showing a rail joint constructed in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the rail joint; Fig. 3 is a top plan of the rail joint; and Fig. i is a fragmental section similar to Fig. 1, but showing a slight modification of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the meeting ends of a palr of rails are shown, each rail comprising, as usual, a ball 1, a web 2 and a flange 3. The flanges 3 of the rails are received in a seat & fashioned in a chair 5 provided with transverse depending fins 6 adapted to bite into a joint tie (not shown). The seat e serves to define, in the chair 5, upstanding ribs '7 extended longitudinally of the rails. The ribs 7 of the chair 5 may be equipped with openings 8 adapted to receive spikes 9 whereby the chair may be held to the joint tie (not shown).

The invention comprises a pair of splice bars 10 applied to opposite sides of the webs 2 of the rails. The splice'bars 10 include lateral flanges 11. Resting on the flanges 3 of the rails and received within the contour of the seat, it being observed that the ribs 7 upstand above the upper face of the flanges 3 of the rails. The outer edges of the flanges 11 of the splice bars 10 are provided with notches 12 receiving the inner edges of the ribs 7 and defining, at the ends of the splice bars, abutments 14: which cooperate with the ends of the ribs 7 of the chair 5. The splice bars are supplied with the usual openings 15 adapted to receive bolts 16 whereby the splice bars are connected with the rail ends.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be noted that the upper edges of the splice bars 10 are cut away at the ends of the splice bars, as shown at 17, to space the ends of the upper edges of the splice bars vertically from the lower faces of the balls 1 of the rails, and to define, in each splice bar, an upstanding lug 18 which bears against the under faces of the balls 1 of the rails, at the joint between the rails. Owing to the construction above outlined, there will be some play at the ends of the upper edges of the splice bars to accommodate the wave motion of the rails as the rolling stock passes therealong, pounding at joints of the rails being avoided. The inner faces of the splice bars 1.0 may be provided with outwardly concaved longitudinal recesses 19, the inner faces of the splice bars hearing, as shown at 20, against the/webs 2 of the rails, close to the balls 1, and bearing, as shown at 21, against the webs of the rails, at the point where the webs 2 of the rails join the base flan es 3 thereof. Owing to the specific interlocking engagement between the chair 5 and the splice bars 10, as hereinbefore pointed out, an unusually secure joint will be afforded. Sometimes the joints between the rails on one side of the track are disposed opposite to the central portion of a rail on the other side of the track. hen such a construction is resorted to, the last specified rail is supported intermediate its ends, as indicated in Fig. 4, on a chair substantially like the one hereinbefore described, saving for the fact that the ribs 7 a on the chair under consideration are no higher than the flange 3 of the rail, since splice bars are not used at this point. In Fig. 4: of the drawings, numerals previously used have been employed with the suffix a.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is In a device of the class described, a chair provided with a transverse seat defining up-v standing ribs extended unbrokenly from one edge of the chair to the opposlte edge thereof; meeting rails each including a-ball, a"

with notches receiving the inner edges of the ribs, the notches defining abutments engaging-.theends of the ribs; the chair being of greater dimension measured transversely of therails than longitudinally of the rails,

to-permit the'chair to be supported solelyon ajointv tie; the ends of the splice bars projecting longitudinally of the. rails be- Copies =ofathis patent-maybewbtaineddorfiverents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents 1 yond the chair, the upper edges of said ends ofthe splice bars being cut away to space the same 'from theunder faces of the balls of the rails, thereby to permit a vertical yielding of the rails on opposite sides of the chair, and on opposite sides of the. joint tie which supports the chair, the cutting away of said ends: of the splice bars serving to form intermediate upstanding lugs which bear against the underfacesof the balls of the rails at'the I meeting.v ends ofthe rails. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I: have hereto afiiXed-iny'signm tu're in the presence 1 of two witnesses.

C. J. SNYDER; Bi Mom.

Washington, D. 0. 

